This report presents a detailed analysis of household poverty and its drivers - family, labor and human capital outcomes, social assistance transfers, and geography - based on new expenditure based poverty measures. The report is the culmination of a comprehensive year-long Aus AID funded collaboration between the Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics (FIBOS) and the World Bank to develop new poverty measures and maps that produce poverty estimates at highly disaggregated levels. The report draws on the last two rounds of Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) (from 2002-3 and 2007-8) as well as the national census of 2007. According to the expenditure based estimates developed in this report, in 2008/09 just over a third of the Fijian population lived in poverty. Poverty in Fiji is driven by multiple factors. The report presents the first national level poverty maps created for Fiji and in the Pacific using the national census, which provides a powerful visual depiction of poverty pockets that can help to ensure that anti-poverty programs reach the poor.

This poverty assessment report is based upon pre-crisis data for the period 2002-2006. Though some may have reservations that this information base is not well suited to informing public policy choices of today, this view would be short-sighted. Economic development is not an overnight occurrence. It is also not something that can be reversed through an economic shock, no matter how virulent. The analysis of data from the first half of this decade reveals small though perceptible shifts in the transmission channels for poverty reduction, that is, labor markets and enterprises. Thus, the reform process which began earlier this decade indeed saw some positive changes emerging in the real sector. These are captured in this report and provide an understanding of how the complex issue of poverty can be addressed in the future. The remainder of this executive summary provides an overview of the main findings of the analysis. The following main areas discussed in the poverty assessment: (i) a description of the extent of poverty...

National poverty lines vary greatly across the world, from under $1 per person per day to over $40 (at 2005 purchasing power parity). What accounts for these huge differences, and can they be understood within a common global definition of poverty? For all except the poorest countries, the absolute, nutrition-based, poverty lines found in practice tend to behave more like relative lines, in that they are higher for richer countries. Prevailing methods of setting absolute lines allow ample scope for such relativity, even when nutritional norms are common across countries. Both macro data on poverty lines across the world and micro data on subjective perceptions of poverty are consistent with a weak form of relativity that combines absolute consumption needs with social-inclusion needs that are positive for the poorest but rise with a country s mean consumption. The strong form of relativism favored by some developed countries -- whereby the line is set at a fixed proportion of the mean -- emerges as the limiting case for very rich countries.

The objective of this report is to contribute towards institutional capacity building for regular monitoring and analysis of poverty, as well as other indicators of living conditions and social inclusion. This report analyzes the poverty trends and profile using the national absolute poverty line, which measures changes in the level of welfare and allows for a more straightforward interpretation of comparisons over time. Chapter 1 presents an overview of poverty dynamics using both relative and absolute measures of poverty, and explores the reasons for the observed difference in trends between the two measures. Chapter 2 investigates the relationship between economic growth, inequality and poverty in Romania during the period 1995 and 2006.

Since the early 2000s, Tanzania has seen remarkable economic growth and strong resilience to external shocks. Yet these achievements were overshadowed by the slow response of poverty to the growing economy. Until 2007, the poverty rate in Tanzania remained stagnant at around 34 percent despite a robust growth at an annualized rate of approximately 7 percent. This apparent disconnect between growth and poverty reduction has raised concerns among policy makers and researchers, leading to a consensus that this mismatch needed to be addressed with a sense of urgency. Over the past few years, the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA) in Tanzania has given high priority to eradicating extreme poverty and promoting broad-based growth. Achieving pro-poor growth has also been widely recognized by the World Bank as a critical strategy for accelerating progress toward its twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty at the global level by 2030 and boosting shared prosperity by fostering income growth among the bottom 40 percent in every country. The official poverty figures announced by the government in November 2013 have revealed that the national strategy against poverty has begun to facilitate reductions. The basic needs poverty rate has declined from around 34 percent to 28.2 percent between 2007 and 2012...

Since the early 2000s, Tanzania has seen remarkable economic growth and strong resilience to external shocks. Yet these achievements were overshadowed by the slow response of poverty to the growing economy. Until 2007, the poverty rate in Tanzania remained stagnant at around 34 percent despite a robust growth at an annualized rate of approximately 7 percent. This apparent disconnect between growth and poverty reduction has raised concerns among policy makers and researchers, leading to a consensus that this mismatch needed to be addressed with a sense of urgency. Over the past few years, the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA) in Tanzania has given high priority to eradicating extreme poverty and promoting broad-based growth. Achieving pro-poor growth has also been widely recognized by the World Bank as a critical strategy for accelerating progress toward its twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty at the global level by 2030 and boosting shared prosperity by fostering income growth among the bottom 40 percent in every country. The official poverty figures announced by the government in November 2013 have revealed that the national strategy against poverty has begun to facilitate reductions. The basic needs poverty rate has declined from around 34 percent to 28.2 percent between 2007 and 2012...

The World Bank Group in 2013 made the elimination of extreme poverty by 2030 a central institutional focus and purpose. This evaluation examines how, and how well, the Bank Group has focused its support on poverty reduction over the past decade, and what lessons to draw from this moving forward. The lessons aim to strengthen the Bank’s country diagnostics, improve the design of country strategies, and build greater learning opportunities from program experience. Using country case studies, surveys, focus group meetings, systematic reviews of Bank products, and other instruments, the evaluation examines the consistency of poverty focus in each of four links in a causal chain: data, diagnostics, strategy formulation, and strategy implementation through lending and nonlending instruments. It reviews the adequacy of the information base and usefulness of the analytical underpinnings that support country strategy formulation and implementation. It also evaluates the consistency of the poverty focus throughout the evaluation chain and the strength and weakness of feedback loops.

Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of about $ 691 in 2010. Mali's steady per capita GDP growth was accompanied with a significant decline in the poverty rate, from 55.6 percent in 2001 to 43.6 percent in 2009-10. Mali's rapid population growth still has led to an increase of the overall number of people living in poverty, and is constraining progress in terms of per capita health and education outcomes. High fertility rates and gender imbalances are key drivers of Mali's poverty dynamics. The present report compiles three different notes, emphasizing the interrelation between poverty, demographics and gender imbalances. The first note discusses the evolution of poverty in Mali since 2001. The second note reviews recent demographic trends and related policies. The third note reports on the latest available data on females in business and employment within the formal sector. The compilation of these three notes aims to stimulate debates and the exploration of policy options to tackle poverty through its interactions with fertility and gender imbalances. It also highlights conclusion of each note.

Despite Tajikistan's sustained economic growth of the past few years and the country's notable achievements, poverty and low standards of living remain a pressing problem for the majority of Tajik people. Poverty reduction is therefore one of the priority goals of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, of its national and international partners, and of Tajik society as a whole. This report presents a comprehensive analysis of poverty in Tajikistan using the most recent Tajikistan Living Standards Survey (TLSS) data, which is for 2007. The report provides an in-depth analysis of poverty dynamics (since 2003); a poverty profile; the linkages between labor markets, migration, and poverty; the importance of social transfers for poverty alleviation; and the key issues in the health and education sectors. The report also simulates possible poverty impacts from the reduction in migration and remittances related to the global financial crisis. The report shows that migration and remittances are a significant factor in the observed improvements in living standards between 2003 and 2007. However...

China's progress in poverty reduction over the last 25 years is enviable. One cannot fail to be impressed by what this vast nation of 1.3 billion people has achieved in so little time. In terms of a wide range of indicators, the progress has been remarkable. Poverty in terms of income and consumption has been dramatically reduced. Progress has also been substantial in terms of human development indicators. Most of the millennium development goals have either already been achieved or the country is well on the way to achieving them. As a result of this progress, the country is now at a very different stage of development than it was at the dawn of the economic reforms at the beginning of the 1980s. China's poverty reduction performance has been even more striking. Between 1981 and 2004, the fraction of the population consuming below this poverty line fell from 65 percent to 10 percent, and the absolute number of poor fell from 652 million to 135 million, a decline of over half a billion people. The most rapid declines in poverty...

China's progress in poverty reduction over the last 25 years is enviable. One cannot fail to be impressed by what this vast nation of 1.3 billion people has achieved in so little time. In terms of a wide range of indicators, the progress has been remarkable. Poverty in terms of income and consumption has been dramatically reduced. Progress has also been substantial in terms of human development indicators. Most of the millennium development goals have either already been achieved or the country is well on the way to achieving them. As a result of this progress, the country is now at a very different stage of development than it was at the dawn of the economic reforms at the beginning of the 1980s. China's poverty reduction performance has been even more striking. Between 1981 and 2004, the fraction of the population consuming below this poverty line fell from 65 percent to 10 percent, and the absolute number of poor fell from 652 million to 135 million, a decline of over half a billion people. The most rapid declines in poverty...

The handbook on poverty and inequality provides tools to measure, describe, monitor, evaluate, and analyze poverty. It provides background materials for designing poverty reduction strategies. This book is intended for researchers and policy analysts involved in poverty research and policy making. The handbook began as a series of notes to support training courses on poverty analysis and gradually grew into a sixteen, chapter book. Now the Handbook consists of explanatory text with numerous examples, interspersed with multiple-choice questions (to ensure active learning) and combined with extensive practical exercises using stata statistical software. The handbook has been thoroughly tested. The World Bank Institute has used most of the chapters in training workshops in countries throughout the world, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Botswana, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malawi, Pakistan, the Philippines, Tanzania, and Thailand, as well as in distance courses with substantial numbers of participants from numerous countries in Asia (in 2002) and Africa (in 2003), and online asynchronous courses with more than 200 participants worldwide (in 2007 and 2008). The feedback from these courses has been very useful in helping us create a handbook that balances rigor with accessibility and practicality. The handbook has also been used in university courses related to poverty.

This report identifies the key drivers of rapid poverty reduction in Bhutan over the recent years, explaining why some dzongkhags are stuck in poverty or reducing poverty is not significant while others prospered, and whether female headed households have a harder time reducing poverty. The exercise draws mainly on data from the two rounds of Bhutan Living Standards Survey (2007 and 2012) supplemented with focus group discussions carried out for the report in select dzongkhags. Bhutan's poverty reduction has been rapid, broad-based, and inclusive. Between 2007 and 2012, the percentage of consumption poor halved to 12 percent. Bhutan has nearly ended extreme poverty within the living memory of a generation extreme poverty touched a low of two percent in 2012. Broader multidimensional poverty indices, that include education and health outcomes besides standards of living, also indicate a steep decline in the percentage of deprived population by two-thirds, from about 25 percent to 12.7 percent. Growth in Bhutan helped the previously landless to escape poverty. Education appears to be the most important route by far to escape poverty. This report is a complement to the earlier Poverty Analysis Report 2012 which was prepared with the World Bank's technical support.

China's progress in poverty reduction over the last 25 years is enviable. One cannot fail to be impressed by what this vast nation of 1.3 billion people has achieved in so little time. In terms of a wide range of indicators, the progress has been remarkable. Poverty in terms of income and consumption has been dramatically reduced. Progress has also been substantial in terms of human development indicators. Most of the millennium development goals have either already been achieved or the country is well on the way to achieving them. As a result of this progress, the country is now at a very different stage of development than it was at the dawn of the economic reforms at the beginning of the 1980s. China's poverty reduction performance has been even more striking. Between 1981 and 2004, the fraction of the population consuming below this poverty line fell from 65 percent to 10 percent, and the absolute number of poor fell from 652 million to 135 million, a decline of over half a billion people. The most rapid declines in poverty...

From what was historically known as 'Arabia Felix', a land of prosperity and happiness, Yemen has become the most impoverished among the Arab countries. The government of the united Yemen, formed in 1990, has launched so far three five-year economic reform plans with the goal of restoring Yemen's prosperity. Have these efforts succeeded? What policies are needed to further reduce poverty? The poverty assessment report aims to answer these questions. This report measures poverty in Yemen in 2005-06, and evaluates the change in poverty compared to 1998, the two years for which comparable household budget surveys are available. The period between the two survey years (1998 and 2005-06), more or less overlaps the first two five-year economic plans and captures the effect of the economic reform programs launched since 1995. In addition to measuring poverty, this report has three objectives: evaluating the role of growth and past reforms on poverty, identifying better ways to target the vulnerable poor through public action...

From what was historically known as 'Arabia Felix', a land of prosperity and happiness, Yemen has become the most impoverished among the Arab countries. The government of the united Yemen, formed in 1990, has launched so far three five-year economic reform plans with the goal of restoring Yemen's prosperity. Have these efforts succeeded? What policies are needed to further reduce poverty? The poverty assessment report aims to answer these questions. This report measures poverty in Yemen in 2005-06, and evaluates the change in poverty compared to 1998, the two years for which comparable household budget surveys are available. The period between the two survey years (1998 and 2005-06), more or less overlaps the first two five-year economic plans and captures the effect of the economic reform programs launched since 1995. In addition to measuring poverty, this report has three objectives: evaluating the role of growth and past reforms on poverty, identifying better ways to target the vulnerable poor through public action...

This report is part of the Armenia Programmatic Poverty Assessment work. It is jointly produced by the National Statistics Service (NSS) of the Republic of Armenia and the World Bank. Armenia has achieved impressive economic growth and poverty reduction since the late 1990s. The country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown at an astounding annual rate of over 11 percent since 2002. The main objectives of Armenia poverty are: (i) to inform policy making at lower administrative levels by providing poverty and inequality rates at smaller geographic areas than it is currently possible with the available data sources; and (2) to build local capacity to develop and update poverty maps, particularly in the National Statistics Services of the Republic of Armenia (NSSA). The report is helping exploit the strengths of household survey and census population data. The country's GDP the measures of poverty and inequality to understand relative poverty in different geographic regions and communities. The results of poverty mapping do not adequately represent the poverty rates at the community level in rural areas...

This report on the Poverty Assessment Update of Egypt is a contribution to the strategy of poverty alleviation pursued by the Government of Egypt. Using data from the two household surveys in 2000 and 2005, this report assesses the nature and dimensions of poverty in Egypt, and discusses the role of macroeconomic policies and labor markets in improving living standards. The report updates the findings of "Poverty Reduction in Egypt: Diagnosis and Strategy," published by the World Bank in 2002. Over the last two years Egypt has achieved remarkably high economic growth. Should this turnaround be sustained, there is hope that poverty can be dramatically reduced. Even though the report does not cover this most recent period, it is important to learn from the lessons of the recent past, and the report provides new information and insights that could be useful for policy-makers: 1) It identifies the overall scope and trends in poverty between 2000 and 2005, focusing on material aspects, but also assessing progress in non-income dimensions; 2) It isolates key correlates to poverty and economic vulnerability...

This paper presents the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), a measure of acute poverty, understood as a person’s inability to meet simultaneously minimum international standards in indicators related to the Millennium Development Goals and to core functionings. It constitutes the first implementation of the direct method to measure poverty for over 100 developing countries. After presenting the MPI, we analyse its scope and robustness, with a focus on the data challenges and methodological issues involved in constructing and estimating it. A range of robustness tests indicate that the MPI offers a reliable framework that can complement global income poverty estimates.; Fil: Alkire, Sabina. University of Oxford. Queen Elizabeth House. Oxford Department of International Development. Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative; Reino Unido;; Fil: Santos, Maria Emma. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Cientí­fico Tecnológico - CONICET - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales del Sur; Argentina;

Poverty in Moldova is widespread and endemic, with poverty rates averaging 60 percent from 1997 to 2002. As a starting point for a profile of poverty rates and a description of recent trends, it is useful to put the macroeconomic situation in context2. Following significant declines in GDP in the early nineties, GDP per capita began to recover through 1997, only to suffer due to vulnerability of the Moldovan economy to the Russian crisis. GDP fell by more than 6 percent in 1998; by 1999, GDP per capita was similar to levels in 1994. Overall, GDP declined by over 65 percent between 1990 until 2000. The movement in the poverty rate in recent years has paralleled these significant macroeconomic developments. In the context of the rapid economic changes in Moldova, the objective of this report is to examine multiple indicators of well-being to provide greater insight into the profile and dynamics of poverty in Moldova. A profile of poverty is crucial to the design of effective anti-poverty measures that will enable the country to reduce poverty more effectively while promoting economic growth. The next sections of this report describe: (i) an overview of expenditure-based poverty and inequality measures...